Days of Our Lives
by thelittlemarieantoinette
Summary: Originally a prompt from the Closer Fic Fest in 2014; "Rusty goes into Sharon's care when he's 6, not 16". Now a seven part collection of one-shots. Original title 'Saturday' - now 'Days of Our Lives'
1. Saturday

This one shot is for the Closer Fic Fest and is based on the following prompt ; _148 rusty goes into sharon's care when he's 6, not 16. _

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><p><strong>Saturdays<strong>

Boys will be boys.

After raising a son of her own, Sharon was sure of that. Regardless of the almost two decades of an age difference between Ricky and Rusty, one thing seemed to stay the same. Saturday mornings. Sitting at the kitchen table, Rusty attempted to crack his neck far enough forward to see the fast moving shapes of Tom and Jerry, as the dog continued to chase the mouse.

Looking up from her paperwork, Sharon found herself watching the young boy. The only thing six year old boys should be worrying about was getting home in time to catch the first notes of the theme tune to their favourite cartoon, not about being abandoned in a zoo by the one person in the world who was meant to love you unconditionally and then managing to stumble onto a crime scene.

The reality of it all broke her heart.

Rusty attempted to keep his eyes fixed on the screen while mastering the art of ensuring that the sugar loaded 'Lucky Charms' - his typical Saturday morning treat - landed in his mouth and not down the front of his Spiderman pajamas. He was full aware of the fact that Sharon would not be impressed if he managed to ruin _another_ pair of pajamas.

As her phone began to ring, its shrilling tone echoing through the condo, Sharon's bare feet padded across the wooden floors as she made her way towards the marble countertop. "Lieutenant, good morning" She spoke, bringing them phone to her ear as she prepared herself for having her weekend plans thrown out the window. "Good morning to you to0, Captain. I'm afraid we've caught a case" Provenza announced, hearing Sharon sighing on the other end of the phone, no doubt she had plans of spending her rare weekend off with Rusty. The aging Lieutenant would never let anyone - not even Flynn, oh God no, not Flynn - know that he felt sorry for the Captain, he would never live it down.

The woman had hardly taken a day off since becoming Head of the LAPD's Major Crime division, as well as Rusty's foster Mother. As per usual, it was the one Saturday that the woman had booked off, something about going to buy a new game - the one with flying birds that were almost as annoying as Rios - that Sharon had promised to buy Rusty for his game console.

"I'll be there in half an hour" Sharon declared before hanging up the phone, standing up from the table with her half eaten fruit salad in one hand and her untouched Earl Grey in the other. So much for a peaceful weekend.

"Rusty, get ready, we have to go into the office" Sharon said, washing both her cup and bowl ,placing them on the drainer before moving towards the television screen to turn it off.

"Sharon" Rusty groaned, attempting to look over the woman at the blank television screen. "But we're getting my game today, right?" Rusty asked in a small voice, dropping his silver spoon into his lucky charms as a look of pure panic came to the child's face. "I promise that as soon as we close this case I'll go and get your game" She compromised, heading towards the table to take his plate and glass. Rusty sighed, deciding there was no point continuing to complain as he headed down the hallway to put the clothes on that Sharon had set out for him.

"Five minutes, Rusty!" Sharon shouted as she headed into her own bedroom to change into something presentable for the workplace, certainly not the medium wash jeans and emerald silk blouse that she was currently wearing.

The familiar 'click clack' of her Manolo Blanik's announced their arrival as they echoed off the cold, hard ground. Provenza drowned the last of his coffee before discarding the paper cup into the bin, making a mental note to replace his usual mug that Rusty had managed to shatter the week prior. "Good morning, Captain" He welcomed the pair as they arrived in the murder room.

"Good Morning, Lieutenant" Sharon greeted, the child trailing behind her as he kept his eyes peeled on his Nintendo screen and the birds as they were released from their slings and thrown towards the tower in a bid to knock them down and take out the swine. As Sharon came to a stop in the middle of the murder room, Rusty all but banged into her legs as he focused more on knocking out as many swines as possible as oppose to watching where he was going. "Oh, hi!" Rusty said, looking around at the team as he raised his hand to wave at them before returning his attention to the game as he walked over to Andy's desk, sitting himself down onto the man's spinning chair.

Sharon leaned against the desk as she listened to the team filling her in on the case, running her through the evidence, listening to Provenza once again sound like a broken record as he declared. "It's the husband. It's always the husband!" Sharon had to resist the urge to chuckle to herself, you would think that after several decades in the police force that the man would have figured out that it _wasn't_ always the husband. Sometimes - not always.

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><p>Sharon lost herself in the case. When she looked up to check on Rusty through the glass window of her office, she sighed to herself as she noticed the time. It was already one in the afternoon and they were no where near finding a break in the case.<p>

Pushing herself up from her seat, Sharon walked out of her office and towards Provenza's desk, where the child was currently sitting with the miniature chess board that Provenza kept for when he was in the office. "How about I get us something to eat?" Sharon suggest, mindful of the fact she had eaten nothing more than two chucks of pineapple and a sip of Earl Grey.

"Already done, Captain!" Andy announced as he stepped into the room, with Provenza trailing behind with their drink orders, two cardboard holders balancing on top of one another.

Rusty's eyes widened as he spotted the familiar white paper bag clutched in Andy's hand, the room filling with the heavy aroma of freshly grilled burgers. "Burgers!" The boy cheered, even though he usually persuaded Sharon to allow him to have burgers on a Friday or Saturday night.

Folding her arms, Sharon looked at the paper bag with a hesitate, cautious gaze " I don't know Rusty, you had a takeout last night" Sharon thought aloud, her voice filled with hesitation.

"Let the kid have a treat once in a while, Sharon" Andy argued, resting his hand on Rusty's shoulder as he dumped the white paper bag down in front of the child, watching as Rusty reached out and unwrapped the burger from its paper bag as though it was a precious present.

"Yeah, Sharon" Rusty said, attempting to impersonate Andy's strong, masculine voice as best he could. Sharon decided that there was no point in arguing with the pair of them.

Sharon felt as though her eyes might jump out of their sockets when she watched Provenza place Rusty's drink in front of him, the cardboard cartoon was taller than the child's face, and by Sharon's estimates was more than a healthy dose of his daily serving of sugar. "Lieutenant?" She asked, her eyebrow raising as she folded her arms in front of her chest. Sharon was not amused.

"It's a Saturday, Captain. When did a little extra sugar ever do anyone any harm?" Provenza asked, holding his hands out as he placed the remaining drinks on the corner of his desk. Sharon rolled her eyes as she accepted her usual salad and greek yogurt from Andy. "Well, you can deal with him when he's on a sugar high then" Sharon compromised, deciding to head to the break room for a bottle of water than chancing her arm with the high sugar drinks that the two men had brought with them.

Now she knew why she never got asked to do the lunch run.

With Sachez and Amy out picking up a suspect, while Tao and Buzz worked on the CCTV, Andy offered to play a game of chess with Rusty; mainly because Sharon had confiscated his nintendo as he was already over his 'three hours a day limit'.

"The kid beat me again!" Andy protested, leaving his bishop down on the side of the desk as he narrowed his eyes as he looked across the table at the boy. "You just can't play very well, Andy" Rusty revealed between carefree laughter as he took in the man's annoyed look. It certainly wasn't easy to be beaten by a child, especially in a game like chess. "Though that's okay, old people can't play chess very well" He said, shrugging his shoulders as he stopped laughing and set the chess board up again.

Provenza was finding this _far_ too amusing.

Resting his hands on the back of his head, he tried his best to silence his laughter as he looked at the mortified expression on Andy's face. "If you find it so amusing, Mr. Einsten, then you have a go at it!" Andy declared across the room, getting up from his spot across from Rusty and leaving it open for Provenza.

"Lieutenant Provenza" Sharon began as she shut the door of her office behind her, turning around to face the man in question. "Just a moment, Captain" Provenza requested, holding his hand out in protest, though kept his eyes fixed firmly on the chess pieces in the middle of the chess board. Walking towards the desk, Sharon watched as Rusty lifted one of the chess pieces nearest to him before moving it forward. Never in all of her years in the LAPD, had Sharon Raydor saw Provenza with such a look of concentration on his face.

"This is what happens when you dose him with sugar - he gets competitive" Sharon declared in a tell tale 'I told you so' voice, as she look from Andy to Provenza, hopefully they had learned the hard way not to give Rusty sugar.

"And you couldn't have told us that earlier?" Provenza muttered as he lifted his bishop and moved the piece across the board, only for Rusty to once again get the upper hand.

"Well, I did warn you" She reminded him as she rounded the desk to stand behind Provenza, looking down at the chess board. Placing her hands firmly on her hips, Sharon watched as Provenza was royally beaten to a post by the young boy.

"I let him win" Provenza announced, shrugging his shoulders as he tried to act as calm as possible. Andy snorted at the very idea. Provenza didn't let anyone win anything - not even his grandkids. Provenza was a sore loser. "You were saying?" Andy teased, dropping himself down on the desk nearest the pair as Rusty began to clear away his chess board, hiding it away in the bottom drawer of Provenza's desk.

Hearing the sound of footsteps edging closer to the door, Provenza and Andy headed towards the electronics room, knowing that Amy and Sachez would be taking the suspect directly to the interview room. "Will you be okay here?" Sharon asked as she came to a stop in front of Provenza's desk, watching as Rusty logged himself onto Provenza's computer, taking his stack of DVDs out of his backpack. "Yeah" Rusty replied, opening up the disk drive and putting his DVD in.

Sharon suspected that Buzz was no doubt to blame for Rusty's advancing knowledge of computers.

"I'll be in the interview room, once I'm finished here we can head home" Sharon informed him, though by now the boy was more concerned with putting his headphones in than listening to his foster mother. Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Sharon headed towards the interview room, content to listen to the gentle giggles of the boy as he became engrossed in his favourite show.

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><p>"It seems the kid's passed out from a sugar rush" Provenza said, stating the obvious as he walked towards the desk where the child was fast asleep. Reaching over the boy, he turned off the computer screen where Tom had been rather unsuccessfully trying to chase Jerry<p>

Sharon had to resist the urge to roll her eyes, this was exactly why she didn't overload him with sugar.

"I'll have to wake him up now" Sharon complained, knowing that the child would be as crabbed as a cat if woken from his peaceful sleep.

"Let him sleep, I'll carry him down" Andy announced, pushing himself up from his seat before walking towards his partner in crime's desk . Sharon collected Rusty's game console and toys, pulling them into her Gucci tote before throwing it onto her shoulder.

The walk down to the parking garage had been a quiet one. Both adults remaining silent in a bid to keep Rusty asleep on the man's shoulder, both fully aware of just how moody children could be if woken up unexpectedly in their sleep.

Arriving at the car, Sharon turned the lock in the driver's door before opening the back passenger door for Andy. She tried her best to hide her smile as she watched the Lieutenant lower the boy into the back seat, buckling him up while attempting to turn Sharon's trench coat into a comfortable pillow for the boy.

Shutting the door, Andy turned around to face the woman waiting behind him. "That should be him now, I really am sorry about the sugar thing, Sharon" He confessed, moving his hand up to brush the back of his neck. He should have known better. "It's okay, you probably helped him forget the fact I was meant to go and get that game for him" She revealed, surprised that the boy hadn't caused more of a fuss about not getting his Angry Birds game - especially after spending most of the week before counting down the days and hours until she would buy it for him.

"Safe home, Sharon" Andy said, flashing him one last smile before glancing in at the sleeping child in the car. Burying his hands in the pockets of his dress trousers, Andy began making his way back towards the elevator, deciding that he and Provenza - not doubt to the displeasure of the other man - could handle the paperwork on this case.

Settling herself down in the passenger seat, Sharon embraced the unusual, but welcomed, silence before she glanced through the rearview mirror at the sleeping child.

Saturdays never failed to amused her.


	2. Monday

**So, I'm slowly working my way through all the requests I've been sent over the last few months, as well as trying to get a new chapter up on each of my current fanfictions. I promise, I haven't abandoned any, they will all be finished - eventually. Anywho, a couple of people have asked me to continue this series, and I thought it would be cute to do a couple of one-shots. Each will be posted here, with one for each day of the week. If it gets enough interest, I might consider expanding it into a bigger piece.**

**This one-shot is inspired by little old me, who is currently writing this chapter from her sick bed, while desperately trying to recover from a chest infection to go to a concert on Tuesday. This one-shot focuses on Andy and Rusty, but the next will certainly be more focused on Sharon/Andy + Rusty - and maybe with a serving of Provenza on the side. For anyone wondering, the 'days' will not be in order, however the one-shots read in chronological order.**

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><p><strong>'Monday'<strong>

Monday mornings were always an adventure in the Raydor household.

Jack once spent most of his Monday mornings recovering from his latest hangover.

Emily had to drag herself out of bed to get out of the house on time.

Ricky often refused to move out of his bed, until prompted to by the promise of a Starbucks run on their way out.

Sharon depended on her trusty coffee to get her through the day.

Yet, none of them hated Mondays as much as Rusty did.

"Rusty, you have to go to school" Sharon insisted, before hearing a mumbled cough escape from under the duvet covers. "I'm sick" The boy muttered, lifting his Spider-Man duvet cover to fill his lungs with fresh air before returning back into his makeshift cave. Sharon raised a suspicious eyebrow, curious as to whether this was one of his usual stunts to try to get a day off school, or if her adoptive son was in fact ill.

Sitting herself down on the bed, she slowly peeled away the duvet cover to rest her hand against the six year old's forehead, feeling the sudden rise in temperature as she pushed back his sweat soaked hair. "Rusty" She said, pushing the covers back as she listened to the child coughing into his teddy bear. "When did you start feeling sick?" She questioned, pulling her iPhone out of her blazer pocket, dialing the number of her doctor's office. "This morning" He replied, sitting up in bed as he cuddled his teddy bear close to his chest, looking up at his mother as he sneezed loudly.

"Right, get your hoodie and trainers - I have to run to the office, then we'll take you to the doctors" Sharon announced, already on her feet as she headed towards the kitchen to fetch a glass of milk and some tissues. Scrolling through her iPhone, she juggled it in one hand while pouring the milk with the other, hurriedly sending Andy a text to let him know that she'd be in the office later than usual.

Grabbing the glass of milk, and stashing the bottle of calpol under her arm, Sharon made a beeline back into Rusty's bedroom, glad that she had taken the precaution of replacing the usual suede Manolo heels for sensible ballet flats.

No, Sharon Raydor most certainly was not a fan of Mondays.

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><p>Sharon's arrival in the murder room was sounded not by the usual click-clacking of her heels, but by the wheezing cough of her son. "Sounds like someone's sick" Provenza announced, stating the obvious as his eyes followed the Captain and her child through the room as they headed towards her office.<p>

"What's up?" Andy asked, concern laced his voice as he reached out to place his hand on Rusty's shoulder, uncomfortable at the sight of the boy in such a state. Hair sticky with sweat, his eyes heavy and his usual cheeky grin nowhere in sight. He hadn't been around much when his own children were that age, but he could still tell when a kid was genuinely sick and not just pulling the strings to get a lazy day in bed.

"Rusty has a fever and I need to take him to the doctors, but I have this meeting with Taylor and the FBI liaison that I can't get out of" Sharon began to explain, her hands moving frantically around as she tried to retrieve her notes for the meeting from her handbag while keeping an eye on the child at her side. "Do you want me to take him?" Andy suggested, stopping Sharon in her tracks.

She had raised Emily and Ricky with virtually no help from Jack; she had done it all by herself. Sharon had dealt with every sleepless night, doctor's visit and childhood illness all by herself. It wasn't normal for her to accept help from someone else - but Andy wasn't just anyone else.

"Are you sure?" Sharon questioned, hesitant to take him up on his offer too quickly. Her overprotective maternal side was starting to come out, and the control freak in her wanted to be there to oversee the doctor's visit and make sure everything was okay; but this meeting with the Chief and the Mayor had been on the books for months and Taylor would never let her live it down if she failed to show up.

"Of course, I have the spare car seat in the boot of my car and we can pick up lunch for everyone on the way back" Andy insisted, remembering when he had to go and pick the kid up from school the week before when Sharon was at court with Andrea. He wasn't afraid to admit that he liked spending time with the kid, and if it helped Sharon out, then even better. He wanted her to know that he was here for him, whatever she needed - day or night.

Rusty raised his head from Sharon's side at the mention of food. "Hamburgers?" He suggested in a hoarse voice, his eyes gained a glimmer at the likelihood of stopping by the diner down the street. Sharon reserved such visits to the weekends, and even then it was only as a reward, but Andy was a different case entirely - Rusty had him wrapped around his little finger, much to the annoyance of Sharon.

Reluctantly, Sharon handed the boy's backpack over to Andy, scribbling down the address of the clinic and the name of the Doctor. "You ring me as soon as the Doctor has seen him" She insisted, letting Andy take the items out of her hands with a confident nod of his head. "Don't worry, Sharon, the kid is in good hands" He promised her, putting the backpack over his shoulder as he glanced down at the address, glad to find that it was only a fifteen minute drive away.

"All I've given him is a spoonful of calpol - he woke up this morning with a high temperature, sneezing and a horrible cough." Sharon explained to him, having retrieved her notebook and agenda from her bag as she adjusted her glasses onto the bridge of her nose. "His past medical history should be on his file but if there's any difficulty give me a ring" She insisted, leaning down to press a kiss on Rusty's cheek, placing her hand against his forehead to cheek his temperature before looking up at Andy. "Thank you for this" She smiled at him, resisting the urge to thank him with a kiss on the cheek. Although their relationship was gradually moving beyond being more than a friendship, she wasn't comfortable with too many public displays of affection in front of the rest of the team. "Make sure he rings me, okay?" Sharon asked Rusty, flashing him one last smile before turning on her heel to head towards the Chief's office.

Getting his car keys out of the top drawer of his desk, Andy watched as Sharon walked away, watching as her shoulders tensed up in the knowledge that she was once again put in a position of trying to balance family life with work. She didn't deserve to go through that alone.

"Come on, kid" Andy directed, leading the young boy out towards the elevators. "Do you think the Doctors have any candy?" Rusty asked, bringing his blanket to his face to hide the yawn that escaped his lips as he trailed after Andy towards the elevator. "I'm sure we can find you some from somewhere" Andy assured him, not surprised that even in a time like this, that the kid was thinking of his stomach and his sweet tooth.

"I've never been to the doctors before" Rusty announced, hardly moving his eyes from their fixed position on the screen of Andy's iPhone as he completed another level of Tsum Tsum. Andy raised an eyebrow as he looked up from the paperwork he was currently completing to give to the doctor's assistant. "Well, what did you do when you were sick?" He asked, setting the paperwork to one side as he gave the boy his undivided attention. Rusty simply shrugged his shoulders in response, "I don't know...just stay in bed I guess, my other mom didn't care very much." Rusty confessed with a heavy sigh, breaking eye contact with the phone screen, pulling at the bottom of his sleeves, a habit Andy noticed he did when he was nervous.

"Rusty, how long have you been feeling unwell for?" Andy asked suspiciously, fairly certain that his suspicions were about to be confirmed. "A day or two, I didn't want to annoy mom about it though" Rusty confessed, guessing from Andy's tone of voice that he hadn't done the right thing.

"Kid, you know, you shouldn't keep these things from your mom. We both know how much she worries." Andy reminded him, watching as the child lowered his head. He couldn't be too hard on the boy, after all, he wasn't the only one who kept things from Sharon. "How about we make a deal? You promise to tell your mom the next time you're not feeling well, and I promise to talk her into taking you to see that new Marvel movie when you're feeling better?" He suggested, fairly certain that he knew the kid well enough to know how to talk him around when times got tough. "Okay then, but she has to get the sweet popcorn" Rusty added, nodding his head as his lips curled up in a small smile. "Sweet popcorn - got it" He acknowledged the boy's request with a smile and a pat on the back.

The sky blue door into the waiting area opened and the nurse appeared around the corner, clipboard in hand. "Rusty Raydor?" She called, her blonde curls bouncing on her shoulders as she smiled brightly. "That's us" Andy responded, standing up from the seat, Rusty's backpack in tow as he held the Doctor's office.

"Andy" Rusty said, causing the man to stop in his tracks and bend down to his height. "Yeah, kid?" He asked, worried that the child had worked himself up about seeing the Doctor for the first time. "Don't forget about my candy" Rusty reminded him, a mischievous smile finding its way to his face, even in his state of sickness. "You betcha, Rusty" Andy assured him, chuckling to himself as he stood back up to his full height, holding the office door open for the boy.

Even Monday's clouds had a silver lining.

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><p>"Thankfully we've caught it before it can go to his chest - it's a nasty cough though, but if he takes these antibiotics for the next few days he should be fine - I recommend a five day cycle of them, if it gets any worse, take him back here" The Doctor concluded, standing up from her seat to walk towards Rusty, reaching inside her spacious pocket to produce the wrapped candy before holding it out for Rusty to take as she produced a bottle from her medicine drawer.<p>

"Now you make sure your dad gives you this three times a day" The doctor announced, turning around to hand the bottle of yellow medicine "I recommend giving this to your son after each meal, and with a tall glass of water to wash it down" She called over her shoulder, handing the candy over to the eager child who was eyeing it up as though it was the last of its sort in all of Los Angeles.

"Oh, I'm not…" Andy began, putting his hand out to protest to the insinuation that he was the boy's father, but before he could finish, Rusty had gotten himself down from the bed and was walking towards him. "Come on, _Dad_" Rusty insisted, putting his backpack on as he headed towards the door, mindful that it was almost lunchtime and that his companion owed him a hamburger - maybe he could stretch to a toffee ice cream sundae as well?

Andy simply shook his head at the child's antics, accepting the medicine from the doctor with a polite smile and a gracious thank you before following the boy out towards the reception. "Just let me call the others to see what they want us to bring back" He stated, dialing the familiar number of Sharon's office phone, knowing that if she wasn't in then Amy or Provenza would answer it.

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><p>Opening up his anticipated candy, Rusty watched as Andy stood at the counter, ordering their meals and the takeout food for the rest of the team. The candy tasted like honey-lemon throat lozenges, but he didn't complain. Usually, he would have been over playing on the old Pac-Man machine, instead he sat silently in the booth nearest the counter, his eyes fixed on the Lieutenant. Leaning back on the seat, Rusty pulled his jacket closer to his chest as he rested his head down on the armrest.<p>

When Andy returned, he sighed to himself as he placed his phone down on the counter between them. "Your mom must still be in the meeting" He concluded, knowing better than to let his calls go to voicemail more than twice - the last thing he wanted was to make her worry. If Sharon thought something had gone wrong at the Doctors, he wouldn't be surprised if she got a police escort down there. "Yeah" Rusty agreed, lifting his head as he watched the man for several moments as a comfortable silence fell over them.

When their food arrived, Rusty picked around his french fries after having a mouthful or two of his hamburger "You like my mom, don't you?" He questioned suddenly, his words almost causing Andy to choke on his water. "Well, Rusty…" Andy began, unsure how to answer such a question from the curious six year old. "I mean, it isn't that bad if you do. I actually like you and mom does too" He announced as enthusiastically as a child dosed with a cold could.

"Is that right?" Andy asked, leaning forward on his seat as he listened intently to what the child had to say, raising his eyebrow in the process. "Yep, she's always a lot happier when you're around - and you're a much better cook than Mom, though she's good at making cookies" Rusty announced, as though letting loose the darkest secret he had in his collection. Andy chuckled at that, he was all too aware of the danger of allowing Sharon Raydor into the kitchen. She was the perfect baker of cookies and sweet treats, but not when it came to proper dinners. The majority of the time it was simple meals, and the nights when Sharon had to stay at the office late, they usually got a takeout meal from the Italian or Greek restaurants around the corner from their condo.

"I'll keep that in mind - now, you best finish your lunch otherwise you won't have time for that sundae of yours" Andy reminded him, watching as the child began to eat his food with newfound eagerness while he occupied himself with texting Sharon to assure her that everything was okay and that they would be back at the office soon.

Perhaps having Rusty as his partner in crime might help him persuade Sharon to come to Le Surf with him. After all, Sharon couldn't say no to both him and the boy.


End file.
